Projects

This page shows the 208 projects that have been approved to run in OpenSAFELY.

Projects numbered 1-155 were approved during the COVID-19 pandemic under legal powers issued by the Secretary of State: Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 – COPI Regulations. Under this emergency legal power, the Type 1 Opt-out [archived here] (which a patient can register with their GP surgery to prevent their GP data from being shared outside the GP practice for planning or research purposes) was not required to be upheld for research and planning purposes in the pandemic. Therefore, for projects 1-155 a patient who had registered a Type 1 Opt-out could have had their GP health information used (anonymously) in these projects.

In June 2023, the legal basis for OpenSAFELY’s operation changed [archived here] from the emergency COPI Regulations to the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020. Under this Direction, the Type 1 Opt-out will be upheld for all new projects (after 155).

In June 2025, the government issued new Directions that make it possible to conduct research on any healthcare topic. As such, projects after number 205 are not confined to COVID-19 studies and cover a wide range of health topics.